Canada’s top 100 most powerful women

Women's Executive Network: Canada's top 100 most powerful women

We are celebrating a decade of leadership at a time when the world seems to be catching up to the message we have been driving home since day one: Women are natural leaders

Launched in 2003, the Awards are now in their 10th year. It’s a milestone not only for WXN and the 653 women who have earned Top 100 status and the 88 women who have joined the Top 100 Hall of Fame, but for all women and organizations across the country, because we are hitting that all-important tipping point. The notions about what it takes to lead in today’s business environment are shifting and they are pointing directly to the traits and characteristics most often demonstrated by women.

We are celebrating a decade of leadership at a time when the world seems to be catching up to the message we have been driving home since day one: Women are natural leaders. We have the skills needed to drive change, innovate and motivate and inspire others in the Information Age.

Shortly after the financial crisis of 2008, my alma mater, Richard Ivey School of Business, published Leadership on Trial: a Manifesto for Leadership Development. Among the report’s core findings was that a good leader is good with people and to be good with people requires empathy. Hand in hand with empathy is character, compassion, and a desire to know what drives people and help them succeed — all traits and qualities that were missing among the leaders who paved the way for the financial meltdown. They are traits and behaviours that global consulting firm McKinsey & Co. says women tend to employ more frequently than men.

A lot of discussion is taking place in academic circles about women, men, relationships and leadership. What’s becoming increasingly clear is that a focus on relationships, people and trying to understand what people want and need to grow, is critical to business success. This is all in line with the growing recognition that the greatest and often most untapped asset of an organization is its people. The recognition of the value and potential of human capital has never been higher. Those skills that were once viewed as weak — such as consensus building and collaborating — are now seen as strengths. That’s good for business, good for women leaders, good for everyone.

The goal for today’s leader is to create an environment where people want to come to work, where they can live their values and so they happily go the extra mile. Today’s leaders need to be worthy of that discretionary effort that has nothing to do with money and everything to do with motivation and inspiration.

Harry Jansen Kraemer Jr., a former executive, university professor and author of From Values to Action: The Four Principles of Values-Based Leadership, makes the case that values-based leadership is, in fact, the only true leadership. Why? Because it is authentic. Leaders and organizations that make the effort to define their values and act on them are the ones with the greatest potential to motivate and inspire.

Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award Winners do that and more. Every day they prove what’s possible and every day they walk through doors that not too long ago would have been closed to them.

This past summer, London was host to the first gender-equal Olympic Games. It took 120 years but the modern-day Olympics crossed a significant threshold. Perhaps Marnie McBean, three-time Canadian Olympic champion and a mentor to Canadian Olympians since 2006, put it best. In her book The Power of More, McBean argues that to accomplish goals in sport, business and life, you have to believe in the importance of doing a little bit more all the time.

We still have a long way to go before women are fully represented in the C-suite and around the boardroom table. But by gathering together and honouring smart, driven and successful women leaders and celebrating their many and varied accomplishments, WXN hopes to inspire the next generation to do that little bit more. FP

A note from Pamela Jeffery, WXN Founder

Change is always going to happen. The question is: how do you manage it right?

Sponsored by WXN

The Women’s Executive Network promotes the advancement and recognition of women in management, executive, professional and board roles. WXN and Postmedia formed a business partnership to promote equality and diversity for businesses across Canada.